Berlin Left demands Vanessa Emde give up her Neukölln seat

The Berlin branch of the Left Party is demanding that Vanessa Emde give up her seat in the Berlin state parliament, the Abgeordnetenhaus. Emde won a direct mandate in the Neukölln constituency with 46.2 percent of the vote. According to the source, she rejects the demand to leave.

The material is a commentary, so the assessments in it are the author's own. The writer argues that the party is taking the easy way out. In the author's view, a familiar reflex is at work: when a member of parliament becomes inconvenient, her own party suddenly wants her mandate back. The commentary notes that the Berlin Left chose Emde as its candidate and that she then won her constituency. It now wants her to leave parliament.

The piece also raises a question about the party's conduct: what did the Left already know about Emde before the election? The text available here is only the opening of the commentary, so it does not say what the party knew or give the reasons for the demand. It also does not set out the party's own account.